Fort Worth officer accused of using position to help inmates

FORT WORTH -- A 22-year-old police officer has been fired after investigators accused her of using her position to provide information to two federal prison inmates -- a bank robber and an international con artist who scammed millions of dollars from his victims.

Lucreshia N. Carey was apparently told by the inmates that information she provided, which included copies of certificates of deposit for large sums of money, would help solve a high-profile murder case and, in turn, possibly get her a promotion and earn the inmates and her incarcerated brother an early release.

Instead, the officer, who joined the force in January 2007, is the focus of a federal investigation and was fired effective Oct. 7, police say.

On Friday, FBI spokesman Mark White said he was unaware of an investigation involving Carey.

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But the Star-Telegram obtained a document that details the case and states that federal investigators have told Fort Worth police that they suspect that Carey was part of a conspiracy. She faces federal charges, according to the document.

Carey has denied to internal affairs investigators that she was involved in illegal activity, documents show. She could not be reached to comment on Friday. Her attorney, Terry Daffron Hickey, said Carey plans to appeal her termination next week.

"Because there is still a pending investigation, I am unable to really comment," she said.

The scheme

According to the document, Carey's brother is serving a long sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in southeast Fort Worth for distributing narcotics. Two fellow inmates learned that Carey was a police officer and asked her brother for her address so they could write to her.

“The inmates explained in the letters that they would like to provide her with information regarding an unsolved high profile murder," the document states. "They possessed important information that would lead to her obtaining a promotion and recognition by solving the crime.

"It would also lead to her brother and the inmates being released early from prison."

The inmates wrote that other federal prisoners had already been released after revealing portions of information they knew about the crime to authorities.

According to the documents, the inmates listed things for Carey to do to solve the crime. The list included researching specific out-of-state addresses to learn owner information; running names through police databases; and researching an out-of-state suicide.

The document states that Carey forwarded the information to the inmates through letters to her brother. She never notified police supervisors about what she was doing, according to the document.

"Every task given to Officer Carey she performed without question and provided the results back," the document states.

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Later, the inmates provided Carey a name and phone number to contact, with instructions to have the person fax her several certificates of deposit -- which the inmates said were a major part of solving the murder. The inmates told Carey to deliver the documents to them and to wear her police uniform to circumvent the prison's visitor policy.

"She was instructed by the inmates to tell prison officials that she was investigating a murder and that they had information for her," the document states.

"Officer Carey received the faxed certificates of deposit that were for large sums of money. She coordinated with her brother and the other inmates on the date and time that she would arrive in uniform with the documents."

Executing the plan

On May 27, Carey's day off, she dressed in full uniform, took the certificates of deposit to the prison and asked to see the two inmates.

The document states that guards summoned a prison supervisor because uniformed officers usually do not meet with inmates without clearing the visit through prison officials.

Carey told the supervisor she had obtained prior approval from the prison warden. The inmates' names had come up during a murder investigation she was conducting, and she believed they had information about the crime, she said.

She would not, however, provide the supervisor any information about the case, calling her investigation "confidential," the document states.

"The prison warden was contacted who advised that they never spoke to an Officer Carey and apparently she was not being truthful and not there on official business," the document states. "The supervisor turned Officer Carey away who left without pleading her case."

The supervisor later checked the prison computer and learned that Carey had frequently visited her brother. Prison officials notified Fort Worth police, who began an internal affairs investigation.

"Officer Carey chose to wear her police uniform on her day off to a federal prison for no other reason than to give the appearance to prison staff that she was there on official business when in fact she was not. She was not truthful with federal prison officials and attempted to bring items into the prison despite the clearly posted signs stating it was a federal crime to do so,” the document states.

In August, Fort Worth police were notified by an FBI supervisor that federal investigators planned to name Carey as a defendant in a federal indictment.